Osiris 75

iTrader: (18)

The basic Duratrax box!! It's like the rubber is just scraping off on the flywheel. I can move the flywheel with my fingers, but it only goes so far when the starter box turns it..

rmdhawaii

iTrader: (4)

This is your basic "the engine is tight at Top Dead Center (TDC)" problem. I had the same problem when breaking in my OS 12TZ engine. Once it got stuck, it started shaving the rubber off the starter wheel as in your case. Even when the engine was hot I had problems.

The advice I got and followed, is to use a large flat tip screwdriver to force the flywheel to turn over. This is probably the worst advice you could posssibly follow, but it's totally up to you. Leaving the car on the starter box, place the screwdriver blade about 1/8 way from the top of the flywheel (so that the blade tip is parallel to the groves on the flywheel - like this || ) on the fuel tank side and push down. This will force the flywheel to turn and your engine as well. You have to be very, very careful - because given the force you need to use, if your screwdriver slips, you could potentially damage something or injure yourself.

Initially, I used my fingers to turn the flywheel to get past the stuck point (i.e. take the car off the starter, turn the flywheel, put it back on), but it got tougher and tougher to do and I would continuously get air filter oil on my hand.

The heat gun / blow dryer idea sounds pretty good to me, but you have to have one of those two on hand at the track. In addition, you have to consider the time it takes for the head to heat up. As previously mentioned, I had problems even when the engine was hot.

I never thought of taking out the glow plug - because the engine (cold) would get stuck even if the glow plug wasn't inserted and I was turning the flywheel by hand.

Now that the engine has broken in, the engine doesn't get stuck anymore - but I'm not sure what damage, if any, the screwdriver technique may have caused.

I would consider the screwdriver technique, the technique of last resort.

Good luck!

markp27

Don't try and turn the flywheel like that - you will do some serious damage to the engine or yourself.

Do it like I show in the picture. This way you can use the screwdriver to lever the flywheel little by little - reducing the forces applied to the internal components of the engine.

Cheers, Mark.

markp27

You'll have to make sure your starter box is adjusted correctly so that when you press down, that the rubber wheel makes good contact with the flywheel.

New engines are sometimes very tight and difficult to start. Once a bit of fuel gets into the engine, they generaly turn over a little better (due to the oil).

First of all, when you have your engine free again, heat up the motor head with a hairdryer - make sure not to melt anything though
Once the motor is nice and warm, you can try again with the start box.
Try pressing down on the car on the opposite side to the motor, to try and get the rubber starter wheel spinning before it makes contact with the flywheel. The allows the rubber starter wheel to get upto full speed before trying to turn the motor. Just pressing down normally means that the rubber starter wheel isn't rotating very fast before it makes contact with the flywheel, which makes it more difficult for it to turn over the motor.

If the flywheel still jams, then take out the glow plug and run the motor on the starter box for 20 seconds or so (if the starter box doesn't turn over your motor without the glow plug, then probably the electric motor(s) are too weak).
After you've had the motor turning over for 20 seconds or so, some heat and lubrication will have got into the motor (becareful though - this is really messy, with fuel flying out through the glowplug hole - use a clean rag to stop most of it from flying everywhere). Now replace the glowplug and try again to start the motor. You may find you even have to loosen the glowplug off a little in order to get the motor to turn over.

Good luck.

Mark.

rmdhawaii

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the info Mark! Next time I'll know better!!

Is it typical for an engine to be that tight at TDC?

markp27

Some motors can be - I had one motor which I just couldn't start with my old startbox until I had heated it up with a hairdryer.
Its often a good sign - my best motors are the ones with which I had more problems getting turned over.

Cheers, Mark.

markp27

No problem - I didn't know it either until someone showed my - we all live and learn

robert maestrey

they have them in stock at Go Racing.......

jeffreylin

VZW056

robert maestrey

Hope to see you at Go Racing this weekend......Jim
We need to get that car ready for Kissimmee...

ziggy12345

Hi

I am hearing a lot of the top drivers are using a front diff with very heavy oil. 300,000-500,000 weight with 50,000 in the back. This is to be able to get the power down really early in the corners and power round and out. Anybody try this?

Cheers

Tommy Bergfeldt

500k silicone "oil"? Why not just add silicone glue?

jag

The first thing I would try is a 2.5mm hex on the end of the clutch. Prying the flywheel with a screwdriver marks-up the flywheel. I just stick a 2.5mm in the screw that holds the clutch on and give it a twist... to the right.

jag

How about coming up to Royal Palm on Saturday? I hear Maxy, Bart and Steve are coming up. I'm going to try to get Tim, Billy and Peter to come. If you come up with Wayne and Tino we could have a really good crowd. I'm sure Eddie (shorts) and Sonny will be there as well.

You are right, we do need to my car ready for Kissimmee.

markp27

Can be done, too - I stopped doing this though, as I once rounded off the screw and it was a pain to get to out.